Buildup!! 06 crown vic front suspension into 67 F100
 

I am swapping a 2006 crown vic front suspension into my 67 ford F100. I know this is a good alternative for a more modern front suspension and a good way to get alot of suspension drop, plus it is a steal at $350-$500 for the complete setup with 12" disc brakes, power rack and pinion steering and an aluminum corssmember. I have some pics of the process I wanted to share with everyone. Let me know of any questions you have.

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I am currently cutting the front suspension out of the truck so I can install the front crossmember and suspension out of an 06 crownvic. The crown vic crossmember will have 12" disc brakes rack and pinion steering and offer light weight with the aluminum crossmember. The Whole crossmember is out of an 06 police intercepter so the coil springs are rated for 700#'s as apposed to the standard crown vic springs at 400#'s.

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I have everything in place and ready to be finised tomorrow, at leas the front suspensio part anyway. I do have a few things left to do such as box in the front frame rails, switch the steering column and connect it to the rack and pinion. I will be putting the wheels on in the morning to roll it out of the shop and pressure wash the front section of the frame and firewall so I can finish putting por-15 on everything. I will then box in the frame to cover up the 4 crossmember bolts and start mocking up the engine mounts. Here are some pics of my progress so far let me know what you think.


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The old suspension, I had to cut it out in several pieces and yes it was a huge pain, by far the hardest part.

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here is the suspension in place, notice the sleeves I made for the crossmember bolts to slide into. These will come in handy after the frame is boxed.
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here you can see there is plenty of room between the frame and steering linkage. I really should clean up the welds on those sleeves but they are getting covered up so oh well.

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here are some pics of the suspensioin from underneath
passenger side from in front of the truck

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driver side from the front of the truck

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Let me know if you have any questions so far I would also like to hear any comments or better ideas for anything you see.

Thanks
Randy

Hey, that's great! Looks better than chopping off the front frame and then having to fab radaitor support mounts and so on. I'll be interested in seeing how the ride height turns out. I didn't know the Crown Vic had a bolt on aluminum crossmember like that. I figured it was welded in like the one you took out. Are all the Vics and Mercs like that, or just the Police ones? It seems a lot more heavy duty than the Mustang II units.

I'm so excited seeing these pictures I can hardly contain myself!!! Keep detailed notes for the rest of us - I've been wanting to make a IFS conversion for over a year and this is BY FAR the best approach I've seen.

Thanks,
David

Looks like a home run.. Can't wait to see it back on the ground with tires on
Is the Crown Vic a 5 on 4-1/2" pattern??

This is cool!! What is the wheel bolt pattern? And the car you pulled this from had a 4.6, right?? Also, what year Vic's have this drop out suspension? Im sure the 06 is not special. How did you line up the holes for the mount bolts? And what is the measurement from the fire wall to the engine mount bolt holes?? And how do you plan on hooking up the steering? Will you use a collapsable steering shaft? How low will this get the truck? What size wheels and back spacing do you plan on using? Also, the upper A-arms, the way you have them bolted on, is that the same geometry as the vic? As im looking at the pics, I notice the lower control arm has some extra material going aft of the truck. What is this? Is that going to get hacked off?

Sorry for all the questions, this is a very interesting swap.

Thanks for the comments guys keep'em coming. Now lets see if I can answer these questions.

1. The track width is about the same as the original I think there is about a 0.1 difference between them so its not worth worrying about.

2. The bolt pattern is a 5x 4.5 the same as any mustang so wheels will be super easy to find.

3.The front suspensioin can be found under any 2003 -2007 crown vic or mercury marauder or similar car.

4. I will be useing some steering u joints to connect the steering linkage to a 78-79 tilt steering column from a bronco. The steering shaft on the rack and pinion goes right to the truck column.

5. I lined up the front suspension first by marking where the original hub was located in the wheel well then simply putting the crown vic hub in that same location. I then centered the crossmember left to right by measuring the distance from the outside frame rail to the to the inside of the aluminum crossmember I came up with 1.25 inches on both sides.

6. I am not sure how low it will go but I have heard it lowers it about 5" but who knows. I can say that it is a whole lot lower just looking at it. The front hub doesnt even come in line with the rear hub. I cant wait to see it on the ground.

7. I havent decided on the style of wheel but I will be looking for some 18's

8. Yes this will have the same geometry of the stock crown vic.

9. The lower control arm goes from the crossmember to the spindle and it has a trailing arm that goes to the rear about a foot. The "trailing arm" will be bolted to the frame after I weld a bracket on at a 35 degree angle. I chose the 35 degree angle because that is what the factory crown vic frame is set at for that location.

I hope I am being clear on things,if I am not let me know. I will get the bracket made for the trailing arm soon and get some pics of it posted so everyone can see that.

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Here is the passenger side lower control arm "trailing arm"

Awesome! I remember hearing people talk about this swap but haven't seen too many pictures. Great pics and can't wait to see it on the ground. Do you think 15" rims will clear the 12" disks or not??

no I tried some on yesterday and I had to take the caliper and caliper brackets off to fit them. I am going to go look for some 16" steelies off of a crown vic to roll it around with the brakes working. I will use them until I find some 18's I like.

When fabbing your rear lower control arm mount bracket, you can loosen the pivot bolt and pivot the bracket so that it sits perpendicilar to the frame rail. (instead of a 35* angle).
This will make fabbing a bracket easier.
When all of the weight is on the suspension retorque the pivot nut.

With the truck back on the ground it puts the lower frame rail about 12" from the ground.(using 235/60/16 cop rims and tires)
It ends up being comfortably lowered. Speed bumps aren't threatening, it's not slammed.
With all the money you save you could install air ride shock waves afterward if you wanted to play.

79 Thunder, Thanks for the help. Have you done this swap before? I assume you have. I will loosen the nut and move the bracket that will be a huge help. I didnt take any measurements before engine and suspension removal but this thing sits way lower but like you said comfortably low not slammed. I like lowered trucks but hate haveing to go sideways over speed bumps so this is perfect.

So far I have about $365 in this swap and that includes the front crossmember ($350) and the metal tubes and plate ($15) I would say this is an economical swap :)

I will have pics later this evening after I finish putting por-15 over the frame.

Another quick question, what are you going to do for motor mounts?